Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to demonstrate his leadership on crucial subjects. He wrote an article last week in the Wall Street Journal which hasn’t gained the attention it deserves. It was entitled, “Why We Are Dismantling the ICC.” What Mr. Rubio wrote there is part and parcel of his speeches against left-wing terrorism and such. As Mr. Rubio explains, the International Criminal Court now claims the right to arrest American soldiers, political leaders, border patrol agents, and everyone else it indicts. It claims the power to try them before judges many of whom come from nations where the rule of law doesn’t exist and imprison them far from the United States. We fought the American Revolution to prevent our people from being seized and tried in foreign courts. The truth of the matter is that the ICC is a rogue court, worse than any anti-Trump judge that we have encountered in the past few years. As Mr. Rubio infers, it is so because there are no American checks and balances that can control it. Our Constitution established three branches of government that are supposed to keep each other in line: the executive, legislative, and the judicial. Our system of government provides checks and balances so that when any branch of government gets out of control the other two are supposed to bring it back into line. This can even be done by Constitutional amendment if the situation is sufficiently critical. But the ICC has no relationship to our Constitution. None of our three branches of government have the power to overturn its decisions. We sometimes struggle to remember anything that Bill Clinton did that was good. But he did, in 2000, refuse to submit the “Rome Statute,” which establishes the ICC, to the Senate for ratification citing significant problems. As Mr. Rubio wrote, “Two years later, a bipartisan Senate supermajority passed the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, authorizing the president “to use all means necessary” — including military force — to prevent the ICC from detaining or arresting Americans.” Neither we nor Israel ever signed the “Rome Statute” so we — and the Israelis — should be exempt from it. But, in the ICC’s opinion, we are not. As I wrote at the time, President Trump, in February 2025, sanctioned the chief prosecutor of the ICC at the time, Fatou Bensouda, and other ICC senior personnel because they had threatened to investigate U.S. soldiers for supposed war crimes in Afghanistan. The previous November, the ICC had issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war minister, Yoav Gallant, alleging war crimes in the Gaza Strip, of which there was — and is — no evidence. This is the warrant that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, wants to use to arrest Mr. Netanyahu if he ever visits New York again. Mr. Mamdani wouldn’t dare arrest Mr. Netanyahu on these phony charges (both Israeli security and the U.S. Secret Service would certainly intervene) and the United States wouldn’t let him. Mr. Mamdani simply wants to bar him from visiting New York for the annual United Nations meeting which Mr. Netanyahu attends to address the General Assembly or the Security Council. Let’s get back to what Mr. Rubio wrote about the rogue ICC. Rubio maintained that the ICC now constitutes a threat to our sovereignty and independence. It does so by threatening Americans with prosecution. We cannot claim independence or sovereignty if we allow it so we will not. As Mr. Rubio wrote, “The ICC is backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the U.S.” Globalists — which includes the Democratic Party as well as its subgroup, the Democratic Socialists — all want the ICC to have its jurisdiction extended to include Americans. This, as Mr. Rubio wrote, cannot be allowed. The ICC’s aim is to cripple the Trump administration’s efforts, for example, to target international drug smugglers. A former ICC chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, called these actions “crimes against humanity.” As Mr. Rubio’s closing paragraph says, “The Trump administration will always protect American service members from this threat. The U.S. is launching a diplomatic campaign with a simple message — sovereign states over globalism. Those who benefit from American security must not stand idly by while those who provide that security are targeted. This is only the beginning. Using all the tools at our government’s disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if necessary.” One hundred twenty-five nations have signed and ratified the Rome Statute, and 29 have signed but not ratified, so Mr. Rubio may have trouble getting allies in this cause. But his position is precisely right. We fought the American Revolution to prevent our people from being seized and tried in foreign courts. There can be no excuse for our government to do less than Mr. Rubio recommends. READ MORE from Jed Babbin: Why Are We Still Negotiating with Iran? A Six-Day Funeral and a Long War The Fall Guy